After First Round
dialog in this section changes slightly based on who you were partnered with, but there are no significant changes in significance. SIGMA Another elevator, huh.. TENMYOUJI Think this actually works? SIGMA Dunno. Only one way to find out, though... PHI Hey. Someone's coming. SIGMA Luna, Clover, and K... TENMYOUJI With Dio, Quark, and Alice tagging along, looks like. ALICE *Pant* *Pant* *Pant* CLOVER *Pant* *Pant* *Pant* SIGMA What's going on here? CLOVER We bumped into them a little while ago. ALICE Who'd have thought we'd bump into you, too? PHI Lemme see the map. SIGMA Oh... sure. .. Ah, I get it. All three routes end up here. K That map.. it's just like the one we found in the crew quarters. SIGMA Crew quarters? QUARK Oh, we found a map like that too. There was one in the lounge. SIGMA There's a lounge? Anyway, ours was in the infirmary. TENMYOUJI Hmm... Maybe we should sit down for a bit and exchange information. PHI No. There's plenty of time for that after we check out this elevator. ... ... DIO What the.. this is just like the other floor. LUNA These doors have colors on them too. The one on the left is green... The one in the middle is blue... ..And the one on the right is red. QUARK Are these Chromatic Doors? Look, there's a box here. It looks like the ones we saw earlier. SIGMA "Lock".. huh. ... Yeah. Won't budge. TENMYOUJI Just like the other doors. No good trying to force it open, I suppose. CLOVER Is something wrong, Alice? You've been staring at your bracelet. ALICE Oh... No, I'm fine. But it looks like my guess was right.. The numbers have changed. SIGMA Numbers...? Oh, yeah, the time left. Look like.. 2 hours.. 6 minutes! DIO Oh for fuck's sake! You're telling me we're gonna have to just sit around here for another 2 hours? ... ... TENMYOUJI Looks like we don't have a choice, then. We gotta head back. Sigma, where's that note you found? SIGMA Right.. K Oh? Did it say something like "Supplementary Rules"? Because if it did, we have one too. We found ours in the room K explored. DIO Yeah, we got one of those. Found it in a safe in the room Dio explored. Hare are a few more rules for you! Once you've opened a door, you can hope through it as much as you like. The Chromatic Doors are like that too! Once you open them, even I carrot keep you from going in and out of them! Any color of bracelet can go through them, and as many people as you like. But! But but but, you have to escape before you can take advantage of this Free Rein Rule. Once you've activated a Chromatic Door and gone through it to the puzzle beyond, it warren't let you back until you complete the puzzle. SIGMA If that's true, then we can all go back the way we came and get into the warehouse. PHI I don't think Zero's saying we can.. I think he's saying we have to. Otherwise what's the point of that key card? K You mean this? The Ambidex Room key? QUARK We found some too. SIGMA That makes six, then. One for each AB Room. LUNA Let's head back to the warehouse. DIO So when Zero says "Jump", we say "How high", huh? TENMYOUJI If ya don't like it, stay here. A stupid, angry mutt watching the door sounds about right. DIO Asshole... Better hope I don't have rabies, you self-satisfied old turd. ALICE Well, what's it going to be? Are you going to go back with us? Or are you staying here by yourself? DIO ... ... All right, fine. I'm going. [Whichever room Sigma explored, the group goes back through. No matter which room it was,'' Sigma hears Quark calling Tenmyouji "Grandpa", and wonders if they're related. In the longue, Quark is commenting on the drinks available. In the infirmary, he's commenting on the drinks in the Longue. In the crew quarters, he's commenting on the poster. 'If it was the infirmary: ''Sigma also hears Clover and Alice talking about contacting "them" back at "headquarters".]' [The group move into the Warehouse. This next section, with the AB game rules, is always the same.] ZERO *Yawn* Oh, you're finally done? You were taking so long I hopped off for a little nap. DIO Oh for... Yawning? Really? You're just a computer program. You don't get tired! ZERO Hey, B.O. My temper's got a hare-trigger, and you're awfully close to pulling it. So, I'd watch my mouth if I were you. Otherwise.. Well, do you really need me to spell it out? DIO ... ... Forget it... ZERO That's a good boy. Aaaaaaaall righty! Let's get back to what we were talking about earlier. Namely, how do you get more BP? SIGMA We go into the AB Rooms, right? Look... We've got some keys for them right here. K and Quark have two each, so we've got six all together. LUNA But.. who goes into what room? ZERO Uh... that doesn't really matter. Anybunny can go into any room. ALICE But there are only six rooms. ZERO Didn't I tell you? The two members of a pair share the same destiny. K Then you mean both members of a pair need to go into the same room? ZERO Yes yes yes! QUARK What do we do after we go into the room? ZERO Play a game. Just like it says on the door... You play the Ambidex Game! TENMYOUJI What. What's "Ambidex" supposed to mean anyway? K I would guess it's short for "ambidexterous". Most use the word to refer to the ability to use both of one's hands, instead of favoring the left or right, but it can also be taken to mean someone who is duplicitous or two-faced. SIGMA It's a game of betrayal, then... ZERO Well, yes, I guess you could put it that way. QUARK Then what's the Nonary Game? ZERO Ah, that refers to the whole enchilada. The Nonary Game is a game where you try to open the number nine door and escape.. The Ambidex Game is just a minigame you play as part of the larger one. Make sense? DIO Like hell. This shit is continuing. ZERO Is it? Or is it that you're just a few carrots short of a bushel? What do you think, B.O.? DIO You arrogant little bastard... ZERO Eeehe he he he... Weeeeell, that's just how I am, so you better get. Used. To. It. Now, could I have you all move to the AB Room please? I'll give you more specifics once everyone's inside. I think it'll probably be easier to understand that way. NARRATIVE K, Quark, and myself each gave one card to Luna, Alice, and Tenmyouji. Then we headed into the AB Rooms. There wasn't really any discussion of who'd go into which door, and Phi and I found ourselves heading into the leftmost room. SIGMA Looks like everybody else has gone in already. Think we should head in too? PHI Why are you asking me? Just hurry up and get in there. SIGMA Okay, okay.. and Phi go inside the AB Room ANNOUNCER An Ambidex Gate has been opened. Forty-five minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes. SIGMA What? This game's got a time limit too...? [If Sigma went through the Infirmary or the Longue, the following section plays. If he went through the crew quarters, skip down.] SIGMA finds a woman lying on the floor of the AB Room] SIGMA ... What. .. What? .. What!? What the hell! Who is this?! PHI Fuck if I know! Look, it doesn't matter who she is, just get everybody over here! SIGMA Y-yeah, right! Hey! Guys! Guys, get over here! We found someone! There's a... a lady over here! She's unconscious! NARRATIVE I didn't wait for a response, just turned around and followed Phi into the room. We knelt down next to the woman, and turned her over as gently as we could manage. All that greeted us was--- SIGMA Blood.. She's covered in blood. NARRATIVE I leaned down to listen at her mouth. Nothing. No breath. With shaking hands, I felt against her neck for a pulse. No movement. Just cold skin. DIO What the hell were you yelling---! What's going on here?! QUARK Is she.. SIGMA Quark! Don't look! Somebody get Quark out of here! LUNA O-Okay! C-C'mon Quark! K Then.. she's... SIGMA Yeah.. she's not breathing, and I can't find a pulse. Her body's already cold, so I'm guessing she was.. I'm guessing she was murdered a while ago. ALICE Murdered!? SIGMA Does this look like an accident or a suicide to you? PHI Hmmm.... It looks like she was stabbed. Don't see a weapon around here, though. That means either the killer took it with them, or.. it was part of them. CLOVER Part of them..? PHI Well, if someone was strong enough, and they had metal hands, then they might be able to stab someone in the heart. K What are you suggesting? PHI It's just a joke. Don't take it so seriously. Whatever. If we examine the wound we'll probably get a better idea of what the weapon was. Let's get her to the infirmary. She might be old, but she's still a woman. If we're going to do an autopsy, she should have some privacy. Come on boys, let's go. ... ... NARRATIVE Dio, K, and I gingerly lifted the woman up and carried her to the infirmary. Perhaps he just didn't consider himself one of the "boys," or maybe it was something else.. But whatever the reason, Tenmyouji only stared. His whole body was rigid, like a rope pulled almost to its breaking point, but it was his eyes that caught my attention. He wasn't staring at us; not quite. It was more like he was staring toward us, a smoldering spark of.. something.. burning silently behind his gaze. It wasn't until we were almost to the infirmary that I realized Tenmyouji hadn't spoken a single word since the moment we'd found the body. I turned to look back at him. He was following us a distance, his breathing heavy and labored and his movements slow and shuffling, as if his body was suddenly made of lead. group go through to the INFIRMARY NARRATIVE The old woman's body was surprisingly light. Carrying her felt almost like carrying an old, dry piece of wood. We set her down carefully in the infirmary bed, as if we were afraid she might break. SIGMA She looks so peaceful... Almost like she's just going to wake up any minute now. PHI Maybe she didn't suffer much when she died. SIGMA Let's hope so.. PHI Anyway.. I feel a little bad about doing this, but I think we need to examine her. DIO You mean like an autopsy or something? PHI I'm just going to have a look at the wound. If we had a coroner, then it'd be a different story, but.. LUNA Um.. PHI What? LUNA I have a medical license. QUARK You're a nurse? LUNA No... SIGMA You're a doctor? LUNA Well.. I'm not exactly a coroner.. ALICE Interesting. I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover, can you? LUNA S-Sorry.. ALICE You don't need to apologize... CLOVER Are you really going to perform an autopsy? LUNA Oh, um... I'' won't really be doing it.. I think that machine over there is a medical scanner. It's called an ADAM. It uses nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to examine and diagnose people. dialog changes slightly if Sigma didn't go through the infirmary, but the intent is the same. SIGMA So you think you can use it to perform some kind of autopsy? LUNA Yes. I think I should be able to manage that. NARRATIVE Luna ran the scanner over the body, then turned back to the terminal. The display filled up with text, most of it rather technical. Sex: Female Estimated Age: 65-75 Years Diagnosis: Deceased Cause of Death: Exsanguination Estimate Time of Death: 3-4 hours Damage Trajectory: Weapon entered through 4th intercostal, piercing heart Wound Characteristics: Wound margin - clean, continuous Wound angles - 1 sharp, 1 blunt Wound cavity - 150 mm Wound length - 30 mm Wound width - 3 mm Conclusion: Based on the characteristics described above, there is a 95% chance the wound was caused by a sharp, single-bladed instrument. SIGMA Huh... Yeah, I don't really get it. What's it mean by "instrument"? Was she stabbed with a clarinet or something? LUNA It means a tool of some sort. A knife, probably. ALICE In other words, she was stabbed in the heart, right? LUNA Yes. K Well, I suppose that clears me of suspicion. PHI Sorry, but no. K Why? Please don't tell me you think my hand can somehow turn into a knife? PHI I told you that was a joke. K Then why am I still a suspect? PHI We found the old lady in one of the AB Rooms, specifically the one farthest to the left. Before we went in there, only two other people had been in that room.. You and Clover. Only one of you was conscious. K Phi, please, stop joking around. I assure you, there was no one else in that room besides Clover when I woke up. She must have been put there later. QUARK But the door was locked, right? I don't think anyone could've gotten in without the key... K Perhaps, but.. There was a hatch on the ceiling, remember? LUNA Yes, there was.. But Zero said he'd locked all the hatches. SIGMA Well, if he was telling the truth, nobody could have gotten in there after you two left.. Which means.. DIO You fucking bastard! Why'd you kill her, K!? I knew it! You're him, aren't you! You're the real Zero! K Wait a minute, please. Just calm down. You aren't making sense. Let's suppose I ''am Zero. Why would I do something that would obviously cast suspicion on me? DIO Uh.. well.. because.. Because you figured we'd think that! And you would throw us off the trail by doing the exact opposite! K That's not a logical argument. ... Still, you do have at least half a point. Your argument doesn't confirm my guilt.. but it does show us where we should be looking: the real Zero. The person who brought us here is likely the person who murdered that woman. Doesn't that seem like the most reasonable answer? CLOVER I guess... Yeah, that makes sense. If Zero was the murderer, then they could open anything they wanted to. I mean, didn't Zero say something about that? ZERO flashback I live in the master computer. That means all the electronic doors in this whooooole warren are under my control. K Exactly. Also, consider this: if the murderer isn't Zero, why would the AI Zero stay silent? He told us that his job was to make sure the game ran smoothly. But now the unexpected has happened, and he says nothing. Why would he do that? If he can see everything we do.. Then he must know who killed the old woman. ... So why has he kept his silence? The answer is simple. The murderer is Zero, or rather Zero.. senior, I suppose you could say. He likely ordered Zero Jr., the AI, to keep his identity hidden. If Zero Jr. told us about the murder, the Zero Sr.'s identity would be compromised. There is something else to consider as well... Perhaps this murder was not unexpected. Zero Sr. murdered her. Just as planned. Death is only another part of the game. SIGMA Killing someone is just part of a game to him...? K Well, there's no way to know for sure, but I would assume so. ... ... ANNOUNCER Ten minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes. All players please enter your votes. If no vote is recorded before the deadline has passed, any non-voting parties will automatically ally. SIGMA Whoa, what was that? CLOVER I dunno. ALICE Well, one thing's for sure. SIGMA And that is..? ALICE If we don't go "vote", something bad's going to happen. K You see? Just as I said. Zero Jr. ensures the game continues, even though someone has died. All of this is part of Zero Sr.'s plan. SIGMA ... PHI Let's get back to the warehouse. If we all head to the AB Rooms, maybe we'll see Zero Jr. After all, he told us he'd give us specifics once we'd gone in. group return to WAREHOUSE A SIGMA We're really going in there? I.. kinda don't want to. I mean, there was a dead lady in there just a few minutes ago.. PHI What, are you worried there's a ghost or something? SIGMA No! No, of course not.. It's just.. Doesn't it bother you? Sigma went through the infirmary: PHI Nope. I don't believe in ghosts. I feel bad that she died, of course.. but there's not really anything I can do about that, is there? SIGMA Damn.. you're pretty cold, you know that? PHI I prefer bold, but whatever. I just don't let emotions get in the way. SIGMA That's.. pretty much the definition of "cold". ... ... PHI Anyway, let's go. Looks like the others have already gone in. SIGMA Fine. PHI Hm? SIGMA What is it? You find a ghost or something? PHI No. Look at the screen. There's something there... SIGMA The screen? SCREEN The Ambidex Game will now begin. To enter your vote, please touch the "start" button on your screen. Once you have entered your vote, the door will lock automatically. It will not open again until the polling period has finished. SIGMA ... And there goes the door. PHI Yep. proceed to the second set of AB rules, below. If Sigma went through the lounge, Phi climbs on ''top ''of the AB Room to confirm that the hatch will not open, then proceed to the second set of AB rules. If Sigma went through the crew quarters, the above is skipped entirely, and instead.. Sigma finds the AB room empty. If you have played one of the other routes before, Sigma reacts with surprise that "there's no-one here.." Sigma enters the AB room and presses Start, and Phi chides him that they are now stuck in the AB Room for 40 minutes. Phi uses the time to explain the Prisoner's Dilemma, and to point out that the Ambidex Game resembles it - but if they are all playing against Zero, then Allying is the best option, because it increases the total score more than Betrayal. Sigma suffers a strange flashback of Phi thanking him, and then a bomb exploding and wiping out the facility, but Phi thinks he's going mad. is the second set of AB game rules, and is always the same. ZERO Hooray! Everybunny's finally here! SIGMA We've got some questions for you, Zero! Who was that old wo--- ZERO AAAARGH! Will all of you please stop bombarding me with questions? SIGMA All..? ZERO The other people in the other rooms are asking me stuff just like you are, Siggy. I guess you probably can't hear them, since these rooms are completely soundproof, but.. B.O. is.. especially loud. For real B.O., I need you to shut up. There isn't much time. I've gotta hurry and explain all this stuff or the game'll end before I'm done! SIGMA ... ZERO Sooooo no more questions from now on! No answer for anybunny, okay? You'll just have to wait. Now! Let's get this party started! Let me tail you about the AB Game. Since it's a game, you're obviously going to have an opponent. .... Buuuuut it's not like this is a battle royale where you just fight everybunny. Each round will be a one-on-one battle. Mano-a-mano! Or mano-a-womano! .. Well, there are two people in each pair, aren't there? So it'll be more of a two-one-one battle I guess! Now, I imagine you're all wondering who your hopponent is going to be. It's actually really easy! You'll be competing against whoever you paired up with to go through the Chromatic Doors. For example: Siggy and Phido paired up with Tenmyoldy, and went through the yellow door, didn't they? That means that Siggy and Phido will be playing against Tenmyoldy. And it goes the other way, too! Tenmyoldy's opporent will be Siggy and Phido. Obviously that means Potassium and Cleaver's enemy will be Moony.. .. And B.O. and Quirk's enemy will be Alas. weeeel I guess "enemy" isn't really the right word, is it? After all, if you choose "ally" then they're your ally! What? Don't get it? Well, don't worry. Just listen while Zero III explains it all. First, I want everybunny to focus on the screen on the device in the back of the room. You should see "A: Ally" and "B: Betray" on it. Do you? All you guys have to do is pick! Just pick one of those easy hoptions. Your BP will go up or down, depending on what you pick. It's a little complicated, and some of you are a little slow, so I made this handy chart! The + and - are from you point of view. ... So, let's say you choose "ally" and so does your opponent. You'll get 2 BP, and so will they, and you'll all get a nice warm, fuzzy feeling inside. We call that the "Best Pals" outcome. Just puts a smile on your face, doesn't it? ... Next is what you get if you choose "ally," but your opponent chooses to betray! If that happens, you lose 2 BP, and they get 3. We call that the "Stupid Jerkface" outcome. Somebody did that to me, I'd skin 'em and stew 'em with some taters. ... the third choice is the hopposite of that. It's when you choose "betray," but your nice, innocent opponent chooses "ally." This time you're the one who gets 3 BP, and they're the one who loses 2. We call that the "Serves Them Right" outcome. I mean, what were they thinking? Choosing "ally" was a stupid choice. And there's nothing for you to feel guilty about. ... And finally... The very last scenario. This is when you choose "betray", and so does your opponent! If that happens, neither of you gets or loses anything. Absolutely zero change in BP. Ugh. Boring. We call this the "Why Even Bother" outcome. As the gamemaster here, this is the situation I want to avoid the most! You're probably wondering about the pairs, aren't you? Well, let me explain. Remember how I told that both people in a pair share a destiny? Well that applies here too. The two of you only get one vote. You get to choose once between "ally" or "betray". That doesn't mean you split your points, though. You both get 3 points, or lose 2 points, or whatever. In other words, what you see on this chart is what you get. Okay then. I think that about does it for the basic rules. Weeel, actually there's a little bit more, but.. that'll just have to wait, I guess. After all, it's almost time! SIGMA Hey! Wait! ZERO No. I won't wait and I can't wait. Didn't you hear me? It is time. ANNOUNCER One minute remains until Ambidex Game polling closes. ZERO You see? It's time for me to be hopping on out of here. See you later! Sigma went through the Infirmary: Have a nice trauma! Sigma went through the Longue: Have a nice trouble! Sigma went through the Crew Quarters: Have a nice trust! ... ... this is the first route on which you've encountered this point.. PHI We don't have time to talk about this. Rock, paper, scissors. SIGMA R-rock, paper, scissors..? PHI We have to decide who's going to press the button. SIGMA And you think that's a good way to decide?! PHI Just shut up and do it! One! Two! Three! a symbol. No matter what you pick, Phi loses. SIGMA Heh.. looks like I won. PHI Damnit... So what are you going to pick? SIGMA I guess "ally"? PHI We're playing against opponent. Do you have any reason to think he won't betray you? SIGMA Um.. ... ... .. I guess not. PHI Yeah. If he does, what does that make our BP? SIGMA We'd be down to.. uh.. 1 point each. But that's not hopeless. I mean, sure, we'll be a little further away from the goal, but all we've gotta do is earn those points back. PHI And when will we do that? SIGMA Okay, well, I don't actually know. But it's pretty obvious that we'll be playing this game more than once. After all, we can't get to 9 BP if we don't. ANNOUNCER Ten seconds remain until Ambidex Game polling closes. PHI Well, you won. The decision's yours. Now decide. Ally.. or betray? ANNOUNCER Three.. Two.. One. NARRATIVE In that last moment before the counter reached zero, I made my choice. POINT this is the second route on which you've encountered this event, Phi's dialog is different.? She'll instead say that you should "hurry up and press Betray" because going to 1 BP means that "it's over".? Sigma can't understand why this is, and gets suspicous at Phi - with seconds to spare, Phi admits it's because "you die when you reach 0 BP".